Why Brands
Should Care About
Social Search Optimization By Christy Belden
S
earch Marketers understand the importance of optimizing for social media. Both Google and Bing have stated social media is important in their algorithm with some research showing a number as high as 200 social indicators within the Google algorithm. You know when you have two friends who would be great together, but haven’t met yet? It’s all you can do not to thrust them in a room together and say “Here’s your better half! Thank me later!” That’s how we feel about Brands and Social Search Optimization (SSO). It’s a love affair waiting to happen and everyone will be happier when they are together. Even powerhouse search engines like Google and Bing have stated social media is important in their algorithms. They support this statement with research showing a number as high as 200 social indicators within the Google algorithm. This further supports what Search Marketers already knew, optimizing for social media is uber important.
• Google - Google was the first to illustrate how social media and organic search could work together with the launch of Google+. Building a proprietary social media property woven throughout all of Google’s properties underscores the importance of social media and search. Subsequently, Google released Search, Plus Your World – a mixed search engine result page containing not only the traditional blue links from brands, but also results peppered with personal photos, blogs, friends and even friend suggestions. The most recent change Google made was the inclusion of Knowledge Graph, a rich and more robust content search results page. Google’s intent is clear: search optimization, content and social media. With almost 5 billion searches performed on Google a DAY, a brand leaves a lot of impressions and traffic on the table by not putting all three of these in place.
Unfortunately, social media rarely sits within the search marketing or performance marketing team. Rather, it tends to be owned on the brand marketing side, where goals are different. Brand Marketers focus on goals that include growing the audience, impressions and visibility. Search Marketers focus on clicks, traffic and conversion. So why should brands care about integrating the two? Social Media and Search Marketing, specifically organic search, work in a cyclical manner. Social Media sites have large audiences that are actively engaged within the site. Individuals within those sites have needs and organic search can help bring a brand to the forefront, fulfilling that need. On the other hand, when a consumer has a need, a brand can leverage the large database of social media users to appear higher in the page; resulting in increased awareness for the brand. Increased awareness and need fulfillment can help a brand grow their audience and increase relevance for their audience. Several developments in recent years have helped increase the importance of pairing social media and organic search together.
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Visibility
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Summer 2013
www.visibilitymagazine.com